Yes, he’s overweiaght, but a starvation diet isn’t the answer.

Overweight horses, just like overweight people, are jeopardizing their overall health.  Horses with weight problems can become more susceptible to injury, laminitis, breathing difficulties, and hormonal problem. Your horse needs to go on a diet.

The first step in setting up a weight-loss diet for your horse is to determine what your horse’s ideal body weight is. This will be used to determine how much hay the horse should be fed.  For safe but steady weight loss, if the animal is being worked daily, feed a minimum of 1.5% of his current body weight and 2% of his ideal body weight in hay.  For a horse getting no formal exercise and confined to a stall or small paddock, feed between 1% of the current body weight to 1.5% of the ideal body weight. For example, assume our fat pony’s current body weight is 700 lbs. and his ideal body weight 500 lbs. He’s getting no formal exercise. We’d fed him between 7 and 7.5 lbs. of hay per day (1% to 1.5% of the ideal weight of 500 lbs.).

No Crash Dieting
If your horse or pony is already on a grain-free, reduced-hay diet that would make any other horse look like a rack of bones, but weight loss is slow, you may decide to cut feed even further. Don’t do it. 

Ponies, minis, donkeys and even full-sized horses whose weight problem is metabolic react to severe calorie restriction by becoming increasingly resistant to the effects of insulin and mobilizing large amounts of fat in an effort to “feed” their cells that way. The fat mobilization can be so severe that the blood looks milky and organ damage can occur. 

If you’re in this situation, go back to square one, determine your target weight, feed accordingly and make sure you allow no grain, grass or high-sugar hays. If you choose the diet correctly your horse or pony can eat a normal amount and still lose weight.

Hay’s No. 1
The type of hay you choose is important. Hays vary tremendously in their calorie and sugar content.  The bright green, tender, dairy-cow-quality cuttings of alfalfa lead the pack in calories. The stemmier alfalfas usually available to horse owners often contain the same or fewer calories than young cuttings of some grass hays. 

In general, however, we recommend you avoid high quality alfalfa, brome, peanut hay, any crop type hay (e.g. peavine, soybean), the grain hays (wheat, oat, milo, triticale) and young, tender cuttings of any type.  The best hays for weight loss are prairie hays, native meadow hays, and  mature cuttings of Bermudagrass, timothy or orchardgrass.

Put It To Use • Feed at a rate of 1 to 2% of ideal body weight, depending upon exercise. • Do not starve the horse. • Suitable hay is the cornerstone of the diet. • Limit supplemental fat. • No grain. • Feed healthful, low-cal treats (a few). • Strictly limit grass. • Do not bed on straw.  • Maximize exercise.

Calculating his grain and fat intake is simple: None. We’re all conditioned to think that the horse’s nutrition comes from his grain and that you must “feed” the horse, meaning a concentrate/grain of some type. It’s just not so. Grains and fat are extremely calorie-dense and have no place in the diet of a horse that needs to lose weight.  The culture shock this creates puts a major roadblock to weight loss in the path of many horses. Even more importantly, if your horse or pony’s weight issue is related to a metabolic problem, it’s essential to avoid feeding grain or fats to get that under control. 

If you just can’t bear the idea of not feeding your friend—or he throws a fit because the other horses get goodies in their tubs and he doesn’t--substitute something more appropriate.  Beet pulp packs about the same calories pound per pound as oats, but because it can soak up to a volume four times it’s dry measure, you can give a good-sized, filling beet-pulp meal but at a fraction of the calories. 

For a full-sized horse, one pound of beet pulp per day (dry weight) divided into two feedings and “seasoned” with 2 oz. of rice bran and 2 oz. of ground stabilized flax makes a tasty, good-sized meal that’s mineral-balanced for the major minerals, supplies all the fat the horse needs for health, and meets his requirement for omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids.  All you need to add is the hay and a mineral supplement suitable for the hay you’ve chosen (more on this in an upcoming issue), such as the Select-The-Best Select I and Select II (www.selectthebest.com 800-648-0950) vitamin/mineral supplements that are formulated for grass or legume hays.

Is It His Glands?
We’ve all heard people claim they can’t lose weight because of a “glandular problem.” Although many of us giggle at this “convenient” excuse, there are indeed some hormonal disruptions that cause this. That said, most overweight horses are simply overfed and underworked. 

If you truly think your horse or pony might have an underlying medical problem, you should note these symptoms:

• Rapid weight gain began as soon as the animal reached physical maturity.
• Gains weight easily on diets that would not be sufficient to hold weight on a normal horse or pony of a similar size.
• Hard, fatty crest on the neck that persists even if weight is lost elsewhere on the body (this is the easy keeper’s equivalent of a camel’s hump).
• Other abnormal collections of fat in a patchy disposition, sometimes dimpled (like cellulite).

Hypothyroidism is one cause of easy weight gain and has often been blamed in horses, but the latest research is indicating that insulin resistance and leptin resistance (see April 2005) are the true underlying causes.  If your animal fits this profile it’s important to consult your veterinarian about insulin testing.  These horses and ponies are at higher risk for developing laminitis.

Exercise
Nothing makes losing weight easier than also following a regular exercise plan.  Exercise does a lot more than just burn the calories needed to sustain the level of work.  The hormonal changes that accompany regular exercise reset your horse’s metabolism to a higher resting level. His muscle cells become more sensitive to the effects of insulin, taking up the glucose they need to function more efficiently.

Good Grain Alternatives Beware the latest craze of “low-carb” feeds. Most of these are heavily fortified with fat, so the actual calorie level is very high. If soaking beet pulp isn’t a grain-replacement option, substitute hay cubes or pellets, chopped hay, or a no-grain, no-fat feed, consider feeding one of these products: • McCauley Brothers Alam (www.mccauleybros.com, 800-222-8635). This is a pelleted, beet-pulp-based grain substitute. It has some added fat, though, so don’t overdo it. • Triple Crown Lite (www.triplecrownfeed.com, 800-451-9916). Unique combination of low calorie/sugar/starch ingredients with a high level of mineral fortification. • Happy  Hoof and Showing Chaff (www.seminolefeed.com, 800-683-1881). Both products are pelleted beet pulp and soy-hull-based feeds, grain-free.

Straw
Straw may look low-calorie and unappealing, but fact is straw provides as many calories as average grass hays and is often high in sugar. It’s readily consumed, especially by horses on diets. We recommend you bed the horse on shavings or another type of alternative bedding.

Grazing
Nothing packs the pounds on a horse more reliably than good pasture.  Nature intended grass to be the horse’s perfect food, but it didn’t plan on horses having an unlimited supply without covering many miles a day to get it. 

One of the most difficult things to accept is that grass intake will have to be limited if not prevented. You can still allow the horse or pony the benefits of moving around on turn out by using a grazing muzzle that sharply limited grass intake (see March 2003).  For extremely overweight animals, or those with metabolic problems, grass intake should be prevented entirely. 

Lo-Cal Treats
Your horse should have an advantage over a person trying to lose weight since he really can’t cheat. Unfortunately, keeping to the prescribed diet seems to be harder on owners than it is on the horses.  Be careful not to project your own feelings about dieting onto the horse, or make assumptions that your horse is craving certain things or feeling deprived. Fact is that most horses adapt extremely well to a weight-loss diet.

If you want to share some treats, forget the grain- and molasses-based treats or, worse yet, donuts or any human food you used to use for treats.  Sugar-free candies, like an occasional peppermint, are OK, but it’s better yet to substitute along the same healthful lines as recommended for human diets. A few carrots, a handful of grapes, a prune, or a few alfalfa pellets are much better choices. Fresh carrot and fruit bits are better than dehydrated/dried because the natural water content dilutes the calories.  Think portion size, too. Don’t give your horse that whole apple, split it with him.